Just Label It, News Roundup 7-13

The world’s top food companies and farmers of crops such as beet sugar are pitted against each other as they lobby the U.S. government over plans to label genetically engineered ingredients. Genetically engineered food is a controversial topic. But mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms in food products may actually improve consumer attitudes toward GMO foods, according to a new study. A farm at Augusta Health hospital in Virginia provides organic produce for patients. This hospital garden is one of many taking health and recovery back to the soil. Organic fruit and vegetables in the supermarket are often packaged and labeled with plastic. But unnecessary packaging and plastic stickers could be replaced by an innovative laser mark. In other news, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned after months of scandals. Emails have revealed a close rapport between top EPA officials and industries they regulate. Monsanto will face a lawsuit that seeks to determine whether the active ingredient in its weedkiller is to blame for a California man’s terminal cancer. Neonicotinoid pesticides have commonly been linked to the plight of honeybees. But a new study from the University of Guelph finds that honeybees aren’t the only non-pest creatures coming into contact with the pesticides. And dicamba contamination cases are dominating the news again this week. Just like last year, dicamba drift is showing up in many Mid-South fields. Also in Monsanto news, meet Monsanto’s new dangerous GMO plant that never dies. Its creeping bentgrass can cross-pollinate with related wild species and spread uncontrollably.

Genetically engineered food is a controversial topic. But research shows that mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms in food products may actually improve consumer attitudes toward GMO foods, according to a new study published in the journal Science Advances.

There is a rule when harvesting produce at the farm at Augusta Health — your hands have to be very clean. If you touch your face or your hair you have to wash your hands again. “It needs to be okay for immunocompromised patients,” explained Maya Epelbaum, the local food coordinator for the Allegheny Mountain Institute farm at Augusta Health.

Ironically, organic fruit and vegetables are often packaged and labeled with plastic. But such unnecessary packaging and plastic stickers could be replaced by an innovative laser mark. Will it catch on?

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned after months of ethics controversies, citing “the unrelenting attacks” on himself and his family, which “have taken a sizable toll on all of us.”

After it was introduced in the 1970s, Roundup was promoted as an “herbicide that gets to the root of the problem.” Now, four decades later, manufacturer Monsanto will face a lawsuit that seeks to get to the root of another problem: whether the active ingredient in the weed-killer is to blame for a California man’s terminal cancer. If Monsanto fails to persuade the court that its product isn’t to blame, the agricultural company’s flagship product could take a hefty hit.

Neonicotinoid pesticides have commonly been linked to the plight of honeybees. But a new study from the University of Guelph finds that honeybees aren’t the only non-pest creatures that are coming into contact with the pesticides.

Neonicotinoids, sometimes called neonics, are pesticides chemically similar to nicotine, hence their name. There are several different varieties, with the three most common being imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin. They’re exceedingly prevalent in the U.S. and were also used in Europe—at least before they were banned in the EU earlier this year.

It is late June and, once again, dicamba drift is showing up in many Mid-South fields.

“We saw a little bit of dicamba damage back in May,” says Jason Bond, Mississippi State University weed specialist. “For us, the situation then blew up two or three weekends ago. For the last two weeks, calls about dicamba are about all I’ve gotten.

Environmental Protection Agency appointee Mandy Gunasekara welcomed to her office a team of lobbyists representing the makers of portable generators.

For months, the Portable Generators Manufacturers’ Association had been trying to block federal regulations aimed at making its product less dangerous. The machines — used by many Americans during power outages after severe storms — emit more carbon monoxide than cars and cause about 70 accidental deaths a year.